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Dessert

Jelly for Meat or Raised Pies

A gelatinous mixture made from veal gravy, isinglass, tarragon vinegar, and egg whites, used as a binding for meat or raised pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Jelly for Meat or Raised Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dissolve the isinglass in a little veal gravy.

  2. Combine the dissolved isinglass with the remaining veal gravy and tarragon vinegar.

Boil and clarify

  1. Boil the mixture for 30 minutes.

  2. Clarify the mixture with the egg whites.

Strain

  1. Strain it through a bag.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Veal + tarragontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together217 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Tarragon + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,789 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  4. Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,845 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Vinegar + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vinegar and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal gravy
Forms the savoury liquid base and carries the main meaty flavour of the jelly.
Isinglass
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity and a bright, aromatic flavour that balances the rich gravy.
Egg whites
Coagulate during heating and trap cloudy particles so the jelly can be strained clear.

The step that matters

Clarify the mixture with the egg whites. Egg whites set as they heat and gather suspended particles into a raft. Straining through a bag then removes that raft, leaving a clear jelly. Adding them to a mixture that is too cool or not yet properly mixed can leave the jelly cloudy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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